Knockdown shade assembly for lighting fixture

ABSTRACT

The shade assembly for use in a lighting fixture is characterized by a knockdown construction so that it may be easily disassembled for purpose of storage or transport. The shade assembly is in the general form of a regular polyhedron and includes a set of at least three flat trapezoidal windows arranged in a closed figure with their short sides on top and their long sides on the bottom. A base member is centrally disposed in the region above the windows. There are also a set of at least three ribs, each rib extending along the juncture of two of the windows and having its upper end removably secured to the base member. Each window is removably secured to the two adjacent ribs.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Many different designs of lighting fixtures have been manufactured andsold. It has not been a usual practice, however, to make lightingfixtures in a knockdown form such that an ordinary customer can assemblethe fixture after he has purchased it. Lighting fixtures tend to berather bulky relative to their cost or inherent worth. Furthermore, theyoften include delicate ornamental parts that are easily shattered ordamaged. The object and purpose of the present invention is to provide alighting fixture in knockdown form, which can be stored, transported,and sold in a very compact condition while at the same time protectingthe component parts thereof from damage, and yet which can quickly andeasily be assembled by an ordinary customer after he has purchased it.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention a shade assembly for a lightingfixture is provided in the general form of a regular polyhedron. Itincludes at least three flat trapezoidal windows or plates¹ arranged ina closed figure with their shorter sides uppermost. It also includes anequal number of ribs, each rib extending upward along the junction oftwo of the windows and hence into the region above the windows. Itfurther includes a horizontal base member located in the region abovethe windows. All of the ribs have their upper ends removably secured tothe base member. All of the windows are removably supported from theassociated ribs. The shade assembly includes support means forsupporting the windows from the ribs while concurrently maintaining thespatial relationship of the ribs. The shade assembly is characterized byquite a number of attachment joints for attaching the various componentstogether, and is further characterized by the fact that most of theattachment joints include a resilient plastic member that is snap-fittedto its mating part.

DRAWING SUMMARY

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the presently preferred form of theinvention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation view of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional elevational view taken on line 3--3 of FIG.1 and showing the attachment of two of the ribs to the base member;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged top plan view of the base member, partially cutaway to show interior details;

FIG. 5 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the base member taken online 5--5 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is an elevational view of one of the rib structures taken on line6--6 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a transverse cross-section of the rib taken on the line 7--7of FIG. 6; and

FIG. 8 is a transverse cross-section of the rib taken on the line 8--8of FIG. 6.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Reference is now made to the drawings illustrating the presentlypreferred embodiment of the invention.

A complete lighting fixture F, FIG. 2, includes a shade assembly SAwhich is characterized by easy assembly or disassembly, i.e., aknockdown type of construction. The operative lighting components of thecomplete fixture F do not in and of themselves form any part of thepresent invention, since they are of conventional construction. Theseconventional parts will be described first.

A chain 10 suspended from a ceiling or the like has a loop or chainanchor 11 attached to its bottom end. An electric cord 12 is woventhrough the links of the chain and extends through a central opening inthe bottom of the loop 11. Immediately beneath the loop 11 is a vase capor upper washer 13, which is positioned upon the upper surface of a basemember 40 of the shade assembly SA.

Immediately beneath base member 40 is a conical housing 14 whichcontains the downwardly depending portion of the electrical circuit, notspecifically shown. The electrical circuitry contained within theconical housing 14 includes a conventional light bulb socket which issupported at the lower end of a threaded tube. The threaded tube extendsupward through a central opening in base member 40, through the centerof vase cap 13, and into a threaded opening that is formed in the bottomof chain loop 11. This threaded tube and its attachments, not shown, arenot only the means for providing support to a light bulb that ispositioned at the lower end of conical housing 14, but also for graspingthe base member 40 of the shade assembly between the vase cap 13 andconical housing 14 of the lighting structuure so that the shade assemblycan be firmly supported in its proper position.

A diffuser or reflector bowl 16, shown in FIG. 2 partially in dottedlines, is positioned beneath the conical housing 14. It is supportedunderneath the conical housing by means of a ring and tripod assembly17. At the lower center of the diffuser bowl a bottom ornament 18, knownin the trade as a finial, is attached.

The conventional lighting structure just described may, if desired, beutilized without a shade, or for that matter may be used with adifferent type of shade other than what is presently illustrated. If noshade is used then the threaded tube, not shown, that is located insidethe conical housing 14 is simply tightened further so as to eliminatethe vertical gap that would otherwise exist between housing 14 and vasecap 13.

According to the present invention the knockdown shade assembly SA isutilized in conjunction with the conventional lighting componentspreviously described so as to provide a complete lighting fixture. Thenovel shade assembly of the present invention will now be described.

The knockdown shade assembly is arranged generally in the form of aregular polyhedron having, in the present embodiment, six sides. Itincludes six windows 20a . . . 20f which are of a flat trapizodalconfiguration. Each flat trapezoidal² window is constructed of a singlepane of glass with a plastic edge cover 25 that is of U-shapedcross-sectional configuration and extends around the entire periphery ofthe glass. The windows are arranged in a closed figure with theirshorter sides uppermost and their longer sides extending downward.

A set of six identical ribs, or rib structures are each integrallyformed of resilient plastic material. The ribs are designated as 30a to30f, inclusive. Each rib extends upward along the juncture of twoadjacent windows and hence into the region above the windows. Thus thelower portion of rib 30a extends between the juncture of windows 20a and20b. See FIGS. 1 and 6. The upper end of rib 30a extends into the regionabove the windows and is curved into a substantially horizontal pathbefore its attachment to the base member 40. See FIGS. 3 and 6.

Base member 40 has a flat circular configuration and is disposed in theregion above the windows, but somewhat below the apex of amathematically perfect polyhedron or pyramid that would have been formedif the flat windows had all been extended upwardly to such apex. Theupper ends of all of the ribs are removably secured to the base member.

Specific structural details of the rib will now be described withreference to rib 30a, some portion of which is shown in all of thedrawing figures except FIG. 5. The rib includes an elongated flat beam31 having its lower end formed into an outwardly turned hook 32a, 32b.The upper end of beam 31 is bent or curved in a direction away from thehook through an angle of about 50 degrees. The reason for this curvatureis that the extreme upper end or attachment portion 33 of the rib ishorizontal, while the straight lower end portion of the ribs supportseach of the windows 20a, 20b at an angle of about 40 degrees to thevertical.

The rib has an elongated central ridge 34 formed on its inner side andan elongated central ridge 35 formed on its outer side, both of theseridges running the full length of the rib between the attachment end 33and the hook end 32. The inner ridge 34 has a transverse lower latchopening 36 formed therein opposite the hook 32. This latch opening isformed with an arcuate wall that curves through an angle of about 185degrees, so as to receive and retain in a snap fitting relationship alower brace member 60 that is preferably made of metal and has acircular cross-sectional configuration. See FIG. 6.

The inner ridge 34 has an upper latch opening 37 formed therein aboutmidway of the length of the rib structure. The upper latch opening isconstructed identically to the lower latch opening and receives an upperbrace 50 in snap-fitting relationship. One purpose of the inner andouter ridges 34, 35 is to add to the strength of the rib structure.

A short finger 38, see FIGS. 6 and 7, extends outward from the beam 31at a location above the upper latch opening 37. The finger 38 is curvedslightly throughout its length, is attached at its upper end to the beam31 in substantially parallel relationship therewith, and at its lowerend is curved outward, and spaced away from the beam 31. A plastic ballor sphere 39 is attached to the lower end of finger 38. Ball 39 islocated directly opposite the upper latch opening 37.

Upper brace 50 is made of a single metal wire piece bent into ahexagonal configuration and having its ends fused together. Lower brace60 is similarly formed, but is of larger diameter, since it supports theribs at their lowermost ends rather that at their vertical centers.

Base member 40 includes a lower plate 40a and an upper plate 40b whichare of identical construction. As best seen in FIG. 4 the lower plate40a has a small circular central opening 41. It also has six shallow,radially aligned rectangular slots 42a . . . 42f formed in its uppersurface. A small depression or recess 43 is associated with theapproximate center of each of the slots. Located between slots 42a, 42bis a pin or stub shaft 44 which protrudes upwardly. On its directlyopposite side, on the same upper surface, the lower plate 40a has acomplementary recess or hole 45 formed therein for receiving the pin orstub shaft 44 of the upper plate 40b.

It will therefore be seen that when the upper and lower plates areinverted relative to each other, and rotated 90 degrees relative to eachother, the pin 44 of one fits into the recess 45 of the other, and viceversa, and at the same time the six grooves of the two plates match upso as to form six radially aligned openings. Attachment portion 33 ofthe rib structure has a small bump or protrusion 33a formed on its lowersurface, and this bump or protrusion fits into a corresponding recess 43of the lower plate of the base member 40. It will be seen that when thetwo halves of the base member are tightly held together between chainanchor 11 and conical housing 14, that they firmly grasp the upper ends33 of all of the rib structures in a secure but removable attachmentthereto.

ASSEMBLY PROCEDURE

An important aspect of the invention is that the entire shade assemblymay be assembled by hand, and no tools, special or otherwise, arerequired. The two halves of the base member 40 are first cementedtogether. The upper or fastening ends of the ribs are then slidablyinserted into the corresponding slots. Protrusion 33a snaps into recess43, securing the rib in place.

The next step is to insert the upper brace 50 and the lower brace 60into the corresponding latch sockets of the ribs. This step provides acomplete frame for supporting the windows.

It is preferred that the frame assembly be placed in its supportingrelationship within the electrical circuit structure before the windowsare attached. The risk of damaging the windows is probably lessened byinserting them into the assembly as the very last step.

Each window is inserted as follows. Its lower side being also its longerside, is placed within the two hooks 32 of the associated ribstructures. The upper portion of the window is then permitted to leaninwards towards the ribs as shown by dotted lines W in FIG. 6. At thistime the longitudinal positions of the top ends of the windows aredetermined by V-shaped protrusions 32c in the respective hooks 32. SeeFIGS. 6 and 8. At this time the upper sides of the windows do not fallinto engagement with the ribs because they are prevented from doing soby the balls 39 of the associated ribs. Again, see FIG. 6.

A slight inward pressure is now exerted against the upper side of thewindow. Since the upper side of the window bears against the uppersurface of the ball 39, the pressure causes the ball to move upward tothe position shown by dotted lines 39' rather than moving inward towardsthe rib. When the upper side of the window moves into full engagementwith the ribs, then the resilient finger 38 snaps back into place andthe ball 39 locks the upper corner of the window in position.

It will of course be realized that each finger 38 with its associatedball 39 serves to capture the upper corners of two of the windows. FIG.6 illustrates the snap-fastening operation only with respect to one ofthe windows, but it is identical with respect to the other. It is true,of course, that the finger 38 being flat configuration bends in the samevertical plane as is occupied by the ridges of the associated rib, whileeach of the adjacent windows pivots through its own separate plane thatdiffers by 30 degrees from the orientation of the plane in which thebending movement of the finger 38 takes place. Nevertheless, the actionis substantially as illustrated in FIG. 6.

ALTERNATE FORMS

While it is presently preferred to utilize a hexagonal configuration ofour shade assembly, with six windows, it is also possible to constructthe shade assembly with three windows or any larger number than three.

The upper and lower braces 50, 60 have the advantage of being located atapproximately the same elevations as the corresponding portions of theborder 25 on each window, and hence do not obstruct the view orappearance of the windows. However, in accordance with the inventionwindows that are fully or partially opaque may be used if desired, andit may then be desired to utilize braces that are differently located,or differently shaped, or perhaps a single brace in lieu of two separatebraces.

Windows of material other than glass may be used if desired.

The presently preferred form of base member 40 is illustrated herein,but the base member may if desired be constructed in other ways, and yethave the upper ends of the ribs removably attached thereto.

Specific features of the rib structure have been illustrated which serveto retentively receive³ an upper and lower brace³ with a snap fasteningaction, to provide vertical support for the windows through the hooks onthe lower ends of the ribs, to provide longitudinal positioning for thewindows through the external ribs on the braces, and to provideretention of the upper sides of the windows through the flexible fingersof their associated balls. It will be understood, however, that thescope of the present invention is not to be limited to the specificdetails of the presently illustrated embodiment, but also includesequivalent arrangements for achieving the same results.

The invention has been described in considerable detail in order tocomply with the patent laws by providing a full public disclosure of atleast one of its forms. However, such detailed description is notintended in any way to limit the broad features or principles of theinvention, or the scope of patent monopoly to be granted.

What is claimed is:
 1. In a lighting fixture, an easily disassembledshade assembly comprising, in combination:a flat horizontally disposedbase member having a central opening for receiving electrical circuitmeans extending vertically downward therethrough, and also having aplurality of slots⁴ circumferentially spaced about its outer edge andextending radially inward therefrom; a plurality of elongated ribs, onefor each of said slots⁴ each rib having an inner end extending into theassociated slot⁵ and releasably secured therein, the rib extendingradially outward from said base member, bending downward through anangle of about 50°, and having a straight outer end portion; a polygonalbrace member having a number of straight sections equal to the number ofsaid ribs, said brace member being horizontally disposed, positionedbeneath said base member, and located inside the straight portions ofsaid ribs with each apex of said brace member being releasably securedto the interior and underside of an associated one of said ribs; and aplurality of flat trapezoidal windows, each of said windows beingdisposed between two adjacent ribs and each end of each window beingaligned with the associated rib on the exterior side thereof; saidplurality of windows collectively forming a regular polyhedronsurrounding the lower ends of said ribs; the vertical height of saidwindows being less than the vertical height of said ribs, therebyleaving a vertical open space above said windows and below said basemember.
 2. In a shade assembly for a lighting fixture, an elongated ribstructure integrally formed of resilient plastic material, comprising:anelongated flat substantially linear beam having inner and outer sides,an elongated central ridge on its outer side, and an outwardly turnedhook forming a lower end thereof; a short finger protruding from theouter side of the upper end of said beam, said finger extending towardssaid hook at an angle of about 45° to said beam; a ball secured to theouter end of said finger, said ball and the outer part of said hookbeing substantially equidistant from said beam; said beam having anelongated central ridge on its inner side, said inner ridge havingtransverse latch openings⁶ opposite both said hook and said ball, eachof said latch openings⁶ being arcuately curved through more than 180;and an elongated extension of the upper end of said beam, said beamextension being curved through an angle of about 50° in a direction awayfrom said finger.
 3. In a snap-together shade assembly for a lightingfixture, the combination comprising:an elongated resilient plastic ribmember having two longitudinal spaced protrusions thereon, one of saidprotrusions being a hook and the other of said protrusions being fingerextending toward said hook at an angle of about 45° to the member; aball secured to the outer end of said finger; and a flat trapezoidalwindow⁷ adapted to be removably supported upon said elongated memberbetween said protrusions; whereby one edge of said trapezoidal window⁷may first be brought into engagement with said hook, and then the otheredge of said trapezoidal window⁷ may be forced against said ball so asto snap between said ball and said member when said finger flexes inresponse to the force applied to said ball.
 4. The apparatus of claim 3wherein said elongated resilient plastic member has an elongated centralridge on the side thereof opposite said hook and said finger, saidcentral ridge having at least one transverse latch opening with anarcuate wall curved through more than 180°.
 5. The apparatus of claim 3wherein said elongated resilient plastic member has an elongated centralridge extending between said short finger and said hook.
 6. Apparatus asclaimed in claim 5 wherein said hook has an interior V-shaped protrusiondisposed opposite said central ridge.
 7. In a snap-together shadeassembly for a lighting fixture, apparatus comprising, in combination:anelongated resilient plastic rib member having a lower end upon which anoutwardly turned hook is formed, and also having a finger spacedlongitudinally above said hook and extending toward said hook at anangle of about 45° to said rib member; a ball secured to the outer endof the finger, said ball and said hook being substantially equidistantfrom said rib member; and a pair of flat trapezoidal windows⁸ havingmating ends adapted to be removably supported upon said rib memberintermediate to said hook and said finger; said hook being of sufficientwidth in a direction perpendicular to the plane of said finger toreceive a corner portion of each of said trapezoidal windows⁸ ; and theother corners of the mating ends of said trapezoidal windows⁸ beingadapted to snap underneath said ball in engagement with said rib member,being retained there by resilient outward deflection of said finger. 8.The apparatus of claim 7 wherein said elongated resilient plastic memberhas an elongated central ridge on the side thereof opposite said hookand said finger, said central ridge having at least one transverse latchopening with an arcuate wall curved through more than 180°.
 9. Theapparatus of claim 7 wherein said elongated resilient plastic member hasan elongated central ridge extending between said short finger and saidhook.
 10. Apparatus as claimed in claim 7 wherein said hook has aninterior V-shaped protrusion disposed opposite said central ridge..Iadd.
 11. A snap-together frame for supporting the shade of a lightingfixture comprising in combination:a plastic base member formed bycementing identical upper and lower plates together, each having a stubshaft and a recess for receiving said stub shaft so as to effect properorientation of one plate with respect to the other; a central opening insaid plastic base member; a plurality of radially extending slots insaid plastic base member, each slot having an internal recess therein; aplurality of elongated ribs made of resilient plastic material, each ofsaid ribs having an upper attachment portion adapted to be slideablyinserted into one of said plurality of radially extending slots, and alower portion, said upper attachment portion having a protrusion adaptedfor snap locking engagement with the internal recess in said slot andalso having an internal angular disposition of greater than 90° withrespect to the lower portion thereof so that when said ribs are thusinserted their lower portions depend downwardly relative to the plane ofsaid plastic base member; each of said ribs also having first and secondnotches on its underside, each of said notches having an arcuate surfaceextending through an arc of greater than 180 degrees; a first metalbrace adapted for snap fit insertion into a first latch opening of eachsaid ribs; and a second metal brace adapted for snap fit insertion intoa second latch opening of each of said ribs..Iaddend. .Iadd.
 12. Asnap-together frame for supporting the shade of a lighting fixturecomprising in combination:a plastic base member formed by cementingupper and lower plates together; a central opening in said plastic basemember; at least one radially extending slot in said plastic basemember, said slot having an internal recess therein; at least oneelongated rib made of resilient plastic material, said rib having anupper attachment portion adapted to be slideably inserted into saidradially extending slot, and having a protrusion adapted for snaplocking engagement with the internal recess in said slot; said rib alsohaving a lower portion, said upper attachment portion having an angulardisposition of greater than 90° with respect to said lower portion; saidrib also having first and second latch openings on its underside, eachof said latch openings having an arcuate surface extending through anarc of greater than 180 degrees; and at least one metal brace adaptedfor snap fit insertion into said first latch opening of saidrib..Iaddend.